John G. Barnard

29072009

John Barnard graduated from West Point in 1833 at the ripe old age of eighteen. He was simultaneously an engineering instructor and superintendent of the academy in 1855-1856. As McDowell’s chief engineer in the First Bull Run campaign, on July 18th he demurred when “requested” by his chief to accompany him on a reconnaissance of the ground over which the proposed turning movement (the Federal left) was to be conducted. Later, his inspection of the terrain and roads north of the Warrenton Turnpike, the area chosen by McDowell after he decided to act against the enemy’s left, produced less than accurate information. If you ask me, he “screwed the pooch”, as Chuck Yeager might say, and poorly served McDowell. After the battle he wrote a very long letter in response to the reporting of William Howard “Bull Run” Russell, titled The CSA and the Battle of Bull Run. He was also responsible for the design of the defenses of Washington – one look at a map of the forts ringing the city makes it hard not to conclude that Edwin Stanton was either hopelessly paranoid or simply a coward. Auntie Em!!!! (I’m very down on Stanton just now, if you can’t tell).

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7082009

Tony Sipp(13:34:57) :

Harry Smeltzer

RE: Your beer can rating system, etc.

I have been reading your critiques/reviews/ratings since they started in America’s Civil War this year. When the May 2009 issue came and I saw your beer can system, Scotch (I drink very little beer anymore) and probably some other corporal fluids shot out of my nose. Fortunately, I could salvage the magazine…though I did waste that Scotch…I have you to thank for that. Since then, I have been able to keep my gag reflex and other parts of my autonomic nervous system under control. But not my laughter and appreciation of your style.

But here’s why I’m writing.

I graduated from Catawba College in 1960. Three of my friends were James Frost Smeltzer ’61, Eleanor Elizabeth Spencer ’60, and Anne Nagle Lausch ’60. Eleanor and Anne married the Smeltzer brothers.

Do you know any of them?

You look and write enough like Jim to be his son. You have his sense of humor and his worldview—like Scaramouch. “He was born with the gift of laughter and the sense that the world was mad.”

Thanks for reading the blog and the magazine. I can’t take credit for the rating system, it was my editor’s idea. And just for the record, they aren’t necessarily beer cans, though I think they surely look like they are.

No, as far as I know I am not related to your friend, at least not closely. Glad to see he was submitted to the same nickname as just about every other Smeltzer in the free world.

If you want, you can express your appreciation of my column to the magazine so they don’t can it. Get it? “Can” it?

Yes, Ciao is effete. Later, Dude is more manly, though certainly overused.

Dulce bellum inexpertis

“I am sending you these little incidents as I hear them well authenticated. They form, to the friends of the parties, part of the history of the glorious 21st. More anon.”

About

Hello! I’m Harry Smeltzer and welcome to Bull Runnings, where you'll find my digital history project on the First Battle of Bull Run which is organized under the Bull Run Resources section. I'll also post my thoughts on the processes behind the project and commentary on the campaign, but pretty much all things Civil War are fair game. You'll only find musings on my “real job” or my personal life when they relate to this project. My mother always told me "never discuss politics or religion in mixed company”, and that's sound advice where current events are concerned.

The Project

This site is more than a blog. Bull Runnings also hosts digitized material pertaining to First Bull Run. In the Bull Run Resources link in the masthead and also listed below are links to Orders of Battle, After Action Reports, Official Correspondence, Biographical Sketches, Diaries, Letters, Memoirs, Newspaper Accounts and much, much more. Take some time to surf through the material. This is a work in process with no end in sight, so check back often!